Five Galveston County Sheriff's deputies have been reprimanded after investigators from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement discovered they cheated while taking the training courses required to maintain their certifications as a Texas Peace Officers.

The deputies were all jailers and the four still working there were disciplined by the Sheriff in addition to being disciplined by TCOLE.

It was reported that Scott’s ex-husband — told the commission that Scott was completing tests for other deputies and was getting paid by them for it.

Four of them admitted to allowing Scott to use their online login information to take the tests for them. Scott's computer was identified by it's IP address as having logged into each of the deputies accounts.

Scott admitted to investigator taking the tests for the others saying she did not realize she was doing wrong and was only trying to help the deputies.

The sheriff’s office did not reveal the cheating publicly. The case files for the investigation were obtained by The Galveston County Daily News through an open records request.

Galveston County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mary Johnson said four of the five deputies, including Scott, were still employed. Jones has retired from the department.

Johnson said that the sheriff’s office disciplined the deputies beyond the punishments handed down by the law enforcement commission — but said she could not reveal what those punishments were.

The incidents cited in the commission’s reports all occurred between Aug. 31 and Sept. 6, 2015.

Sheriff’s office officials said they believe that all their employees are now taking their own tests.

Comments:
The Sheriff's Office now believes employees are taking their own tests?? They don't know for sure??? Come On Man

Posted by Topcat at 12/6/2017 10:03:08 AM

Sounds like it’s time to create a testing space with proctors to watch over those testing. To believe something versus knowing something are two different worlds!

Posted by Familyofleos at 12/6/2017 10:54:53 AM

They have to do something to get that $30k a year job. They apparently are not that bright to begin with if thats all they can do.

Posted by Teacher at 12/6/2017 11:20:11 AM

Oh my goodness! That is totally unacceptable. Disgracefull!

Henry, I would have NEVER believed that you would allow such people to continue to represent you and/or Galveston County. Why do you have such people STILL employed? Why do they still have their license? Why was this kept quiet from the public (LOL, dumb question, I know why.) Is that the quality of officers you have working there? Unbelievable!! Unacceptable!!

Posted by nameless at 12/6/2017 12:01:33 PM

The Chief Deputy makes a comment about taking it seriously - really anybody remember the FBI National Academy incident? What a laugh

Posted by Wow Really at 12/6/2017 1:57:18 PM

And the Sheriff kept it secret from everyone for all this time. Time for a new Sheriff. This one is dishonest with the public.

Posted by Super Cop at 12/6/2017 2:07:17 PM

Galveston has it's own swamp. They should be so ashamed of cheating. And they should all be fired. We don't need crooks in charge of our safety.We see they cannot be trusted and are not willing to learn the job...Very bad examples.Galveston Please do better, Or do you even know how....Drain that swamp.

Posted by glow at 12/6/2017 2:08:36 PM

why can't they reveal the punishments the deputies got if they got arrested they would reveal that.Just another way of saying they did not get anything but a slap on the wrist,I agree with super cop time for another HONEST SHERIFF

Posted by BIG DADDY at 12/6/2017 2:38:07 PM

If this is Belinda Scott's way of thinking, perhaps she would be better suited in a different line of work. How many others at the sheriff's office think the same way?

"Scott admitted to investigator taking the tests for the others saying she did not realize she was doing wrong and was only trying to help the deputies."

Posted by Nick Elodeon at 12/6/2017 6:06:00 PM

I'm so disappointed Sheriff Henry Trochesset. So you have the fox watching the hen house? I'm disappointed that you didn't do the right thing and fire those involved once you were made aware. What else is being covered up? I agree with Super Cop and Big Daddy time for a New Sheriff

Posted by PeaceMaker at 12/6/2017 6:08:06 PM

I love it when the townspeople light their torches and converge on authority over spilled milk. Just because a sheriff doesn't send out a flyer to advise the town that there are some test cheaters on his jailer staff does not make one dishonest or a crook. Cool your torches people and quit being crybabies. Can you say "liberal paper trying to tarnish sheriff's performance for upcoming election cycle"? Henry and his staff have made my life better by taking complaint calls from me and actively stepping up patrol on my street to make a rowdy neighbor behave, and for that, I thank him and his patrol officers for a job well done.

Posted by Sasquatch at 12/7/2017 8:35:13 AM

The results of this investigation into the cheating by these Deputies warrants dismissal from their position of trust. The term is "Untruthfulness" which according to TCOLE, warrants a dishonorable discharge from their position as a Texas Peace Officer. Further once "Untruthfulness" is proven through facts of the investigation the Galveston County District Attorney is obligated to place each one of these Deputies on the "Brady List". This list constitutes that the Deputies were proven untruthful and are restricted from filing criminal charges and testifying in court proceedings. If they are allowed to testify in court the defense attorney must be notified by the DA that the Deputies are on the Brady List and this can be used to impeach the Deputies testimony. Basically their careers in Law Enforcement are history if the Brady List rules are followed by the District Attorney and the Sheriff.

Posted by Say it's not so at 12/7/2017 12:29:28 PM

I would like to address some of the above comments:1. The test the deputies acquired was provided by the TCOLE website. A person logs on then chooses a topic. Upon completion of the course, the test is taken. This can be done with any PC, in the comfort of their home, or any public place. These tests were not administered or monitored by this agency.2. TCOLE was contacted and informed by a third party of the allegations. TCOLE initiated the investigation and concluded that the deputies were at fault. TCOLE, ultimately, administered disciplinary action towards each deputy.3. After TCOLE completed their investigation, they contacted this agency and informed me of their findings. This agency then started our own internal investigation. As a result of our investigation, the deputies were disciplined for their policy infractions.4. The conclusion of this investigation was during the time Hurricane Harvey impacted the Gulf coast. This agency's priority was hurricane preparations and recovery at that time, a press release was not my top priority. Any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at (409)766-2301.

Sheriff Henry Trochesset

Posted by Sheriff Trochesset at 12/7/2017 2:45:22 PM

Sasquatch: So you think that because your getting SPECIAL, ADDITIONAL ENHANCES patrol services that continuing to employ dishonest officers is acceptable! AND, if he wasn't trying to withhold it from the public why did the newspaper have to file under the open records act! I feel that if you weren't getting ENHANCED patrols services, your "torch" would probably be flying highest of all ...

Posted by Nameless at 12/7/2017 3:26:16 PM

The sheriff's secretary did a decent job with that response. Seems like he would be too busy or professional to respond to these comments. Lol jk of course he's not. The S.O. is by far the most underhanded agency with a lack of morals and ethics there is.1. A Chief deputy cheating at the FBI NA...FYI B.Jones is still there.2. Drunk driving accident....response...promotions for everyone involved. 3.Sexual harassment by a Sergeant....response...promotion and reassign the victim to the jail.4.Deputy spending hours at strip club on 146...response....a firm talking to.5.Stealing....response...reassigned until people forget.6.Drug testing? Haha lasted a couple years and didn't apply to rank.7.The deputies will never get fired because they are extremely short in at least 3 areas because most people quit after seeing how that place is really ran.It's sad because there were and are a lot of good people at that agency but the group of leaders this sheriff has brought in has run them off, pushed them out, or demoted them. Like the others have stated, do this county a favor and step down.

Posted by Nevertell at 12/7/2017 5:55:24 PM

Every Texas peace officer knows they have 24 months in which to obtain the TCOLE required training hours. I will never understand why many wait until the last month, which the deadline is August 31st, to get their hours reported.

I do have a question for the sheriff though. Who did your 40 hours?

Posted by Nick Elodeon at 12/7/2017 6:42:20 PM

Okay so one person on this blogs likes this useless Sheriff. Several comments are in fact true and yes he let good people go to promote his “yes men”. Now he finally promoted Darrell Isaccks to Chief Deputy. So what does this mean - we’ll now you have two people who have never been cops running an office. Office, Henry not agency, just saying.

Now take a look back at when Sheriff Poor ran the Sheriff’s Office, no federal law suits, problem employees were dealt with and some terminated. A RINO it’s that simple, he and his yes men have done nothing for this county.

Oh and let’s forgive him it was during Harvey- one said they were disappointed in him, well several more should also be. I realize being in public office will bring about negative comments, sometimes it’s 50-50 but with this guy the negative comments are greater than 50-50.

He got his wish, his dream of being the Sheriff, now get out and let someone who knows how to run an Office take the job.

Bye Felicia

Posted by He Got Promoted at 12/8/2017 8:24:04 PM

I do not feel the actions of a few lazy deputies reflect on the our Sheriff. Like every profession you will have some that do not have integrity. As a supervisor you cannot possibly see everything and know everything going on at all times. Leadership is a learned experience and everyone goes through "growing pains" no matter at what you level. Sheriff T, I got your back!!!!!!!

Posted by webslueth at 12/10/2017 8:04:58 PM

So cheating is rewarded by still having your job ? Oh but wait....Hurricane Harvey was the culprit, states the sheriff! Sworn to uphold the law but cheating, something a child is taught is wrong from day 1, we now ALLOW law enforcement staff to do this & it's just "ok". So Belinda Scott actually gets by with saying she THOUGHT she was just helping out. OMG. How embarrassing for this county. PROVEN Law Enforcement CHEATERS ALLOWED TO KEEP JOBS ! What a headline for our youth to read about ! DISGUSTING !!!

Posted by Blue1 at 1/3/2018 4:02:25 AM

It is sad the shape that our county law enforcement is in. This is one of the main reasons why I left the county organization when I did. Certain ranking officers were warned by me about the unethically practices that was about to hit the Sheriff's Office. And here it is three fold times infinity. And this is not the beginning nor the end.

Posted by XLaw Enforcement at 1/3/2018 3:56:57 PM

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